Richard Sherman was extremely critical of some of Roger Goodell’s proposed rule changes.
In February, Goodell proposed a new rule in which a player would be ejected for collecting two personal fouls in one game. Sherman was deeply critical of this rule, and his main point was that the proposals are coming from people who have never played the game.
“I think it’s foolish,” Sherman said during SportsCenter’s Sunday Conversation segment. “But it sounds like something somebody who’s never played the game would say, something that they would suggest, because he doesn’t understand. He’s just a face. He’s just a suit. He’s never stepped foot on the field and understood how you can get a personal foul.”
Sherman believes the catch rule is also muddled because “suits” are the ones coming up with them.
“Because you’ve got a bunch of suits doing it,” Sherman said when asked why catches are so controversial. “Like I said before, you don’t have a bunch of guys … let Jerry Rice and Michael Irvin talk about it for about 20, 30 minutes. Maybe Cris Carter. Randy Moss, let those guys have a roundtable discussion about what a catch should be and come up with a rule.
“I guarantee you it’d be more effective than the rule they have now because those are the pass-catchers. Those are some of the best pass-catchers we’ve had. I think it’d be more straightforward and to the point. You’ve got a bunch of guys who have never played. They’ve probably touched a football to hold it out or to shake somebody’s hand, to take a picture, but they’ve never played the game.”
Sherman has offered up his advice on dealing with the rulebook and refereeing before, and he’s been a big proponent of rule changes and interpretations being made by people who have played in and understand the game. This is just more evidence of that.
